This week’s Effective Virtual Conversations tip focuses on a key factor which helps teams excel. In both the virtual  and in-person team space helping teams understanding their ROLES on the team, is a key activity. This becomes even more important when teams are remote and people may not have a sense of how their work fits together. This can lead to duplication, or impact when things are not done to time or scope, and have a domino effect.
Facilitating the conversation with your team about roles could be part of an upcoming team meeting.
Today’s post includes a short excerpt from Effective Virtual Conversations on page 353, As I write in the book, you might consider exploring questions such as:

• What are our roles?
• Where is there overlap?
• How do our roles leverage people’s strengths?
• In our work, what do we need to do?
• How are our roles supporting the performance goals, supporting our practices and supporting our WHY?
• What else is important for us to notice around our roles?
• What else is important for you to notice about roles?

Enjoy the start to your week,
Jennifer

Virtual meetings can be a drag! As I write in Effective Virtual Conversations, they don’t have to involve “Death by Conference Call”.

Four to five times a year I offer the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program, geared to provide leaders, trainers, facilitators and other professionals with tools to jazz up their virtual conversations – meetings, webinars and other virtual conversations.

It’s really important in virtual sessions to make things as visual, and visible, as possible. That’s why slides and photographs can be a great thing. While design and photography was probably not on your list of development activities as a leader, think about how photos and visuals shape:

• The stories of the team
• The memories of what you have achieved
• The emotions created
• Team identity
• What photos, images and visuals are you using in your team communication? Is there an opportunity to do more, or incorporate more in these areas?

 
I wanted to share a quick framework you might consider using and adapting for your next team meeting.
One of the things which is important for leaders of all kinds, virtual leaders especially, is to check for understanding in terms of what people are “taking away” from a call. Team meetings are usually our only live touchpoint as virtual and remote teams. Leveraging these opportunities for feedback and learning are key.
As part of my work as a presenter, I often incorporate a slide that looks like this, at the end of the presentation:
 
The icons represent our focus and takeaways.
I always like to build in time to hear from each person around:

1. What are you next steps? (The feet icon)
2. What has your learning been? (The scissors)
   
3. What do you want to keep your eyes on (The magnifying glass)
4. What will you take forward (the briefcase)

 
It’s highly unlikely that we get to hear from everyone, however, I can share this on the screen and have everyone use “annotation” and include their name to indicate what their responses are. We can then take a screen grab and circulate it as key learning from the meeting.

Once people get into the practice of this, it only takes a few minutes, yet it serves as a very powerful reminder of what we covered, and also accountability tool that peers and leaders can follow up on.

How might you use something like this in your work and/or virtual conversations?
​
Enjoy,
Jennifer

​As we move into fall, it can be very useful for teams to continue to put attention around getting things done WHILE Connecting. A favorite activity I continue to facilitate is GET IT DONE afternoons, which really become Virtual Co-Working Sessions. They are a derivative of the virtual retreats I have been offering for teams, business owners and leaders since 2007. 
Virtual co-working sessions may range from one-hour sprints, to four-hour blocks to full day sessions.
Three considerations to making a virtual co-working session work include the following:

1. A platform where you can all meet, see each other and converse for periods of time.

Streaming is often best, however, others may appreciate the ability to take their work on the road and call in at time.

1. Focus – collectively and individually. Consider these questions
2. What’s bringing you together today?
3. What’s the focus – is it to do something collectively or individually?
4. What outcomes do you want?
5. How do you want to break it down – meeting every hour for check ins? Meeting more frequently?
6. Scheduled Checkpoints - A way to share and keep the momentum going throughout the day. I have found that virtual group and team sessions have been the seeds for some amazing new ideas and cross-pollination. Be sure to build in blocks where people are not only checking in around what they are doing, but also consider the value of building in some time for sharing of learning or insights.

Looking for inspiration on what you might do in a virtual co-working session? Consider these ideas – they are all real programs I have facilitated over the years:

• One-hour virtual sprints for planning on the team or individual level
• 30-minute brainstorming/innovation sessions geared to create new product and or service ideas
• Four-hour Get it Done sessions where groups of solopreneurs connect virtually to take focused action once a month on things on their list. Check ins are once an hour.
• Four to eight-hour Virtual Retreats, where each hour has a dedicated focus and theme to explore and/take action on. For example, an hour dedicated to creating a business plan, an hour to marketing approaches, an hour for project work).

Looking for a facilitator to host your next virtual co-working session? Contact me to learn more about this service I offer. 

Best wishes,
Jennifer

​It is Monday and time for another tip you can use when facilitating a conference call, virtual meeting or virtual team development session. In recent weeks I have been exploring Virtual Facilitation Faux-pas or mistakes you can make. This week we are at number three which is Not Calling on People.
As a facilitator in the virtual space it’s important to:

• Be strong on process
• Let people know what they can expect in terms of engagement in your calls
• It’s unlikely that most people will feel comfortable jumping in with a response – in fear that they may talk over someone else, or cut someone else off. With this in mind, let people know if you will be calling on people (perhaps in order) as you go. It is beneficial when you set this expectation upfront, rather than spring it on people.

Other process pieces are important including:

• Letting people know where you are going, what you’ve covered and what agreements have been made
• Checking in regularly about what’s been covered and understanding across the group
• Utilizing a variety of approaches for engagement and bringing peoples voices and ideas into the room. This might include using breakouts, annotation, chat and/or polls
• Ensuring that you start and end on time

What else is going to make your virtual conversation effective this week?

Enjoy,
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Effective Virtual Conversations |  Coaching Team Leaders  
We provide team and leadership development support through coaching, consulting and training services
Author of Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) 
Email: info@potentialsrealized.com
(416)996-8326

​Effective Virtual Conversations Tip #50 gets to you think about how  you can get people to bring something “from beyond the screen”. In today’s virtual world, we often only get to know people “in the screen”. I recently was out on the West Coast doing some work in person where people had only met me on the screen. We joked about how I was much shorter and smaller than the screen makes me appear.

Given that our window is fixed, unless we are shifting around and calling in via a mobile, it can be interesting for people to be able to share something from “beyond their screen”. You can get creative with this. Consider:

How people can use the app to log in and move around using a mobile instead of a desk-top.

How members can move around and call in from a different space each time.
 
In coaching work, integrating kinesthetic approaches or using body-centered coaching creates new energy through movement.

​What can you do to move more in your programming?
 
 
Enjoy your reflections!
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders 
​Author of From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2016)
Looking to spark more conversation with your team? Consider the Conversation Sparker(TM) Cards
Set up a conversation about how we can support you and your team best
(416)996-8326

Today's Sunday video brings to life the first five pitfalls I wrote about as part of the Monday Effective Virtual Conversation's series on pitfalls in virtual facilitation.

If you haven't read my Monday EVC tips, read them here.

Click on start for this week's YouTube video on 5 Pitfalls in Virtual Facilitation, originally published here as Teams365 #972.

After you watch it, think about how you prefer to consume information. Is it by reading OR is it by watching a video?

Enjoy your week,
Jennifer

As a virtual facilitator it’s important to be flexible. It’s likely that the unexpected will happen. Whether it’s the connection is going down or time zone conversions haven’t been made correctly, things inside, and outside of our control as the conversation leader can happen.

 In today’s world we talk a lot about agility, a term which is becoming overused. When writing EVC last year I chose to use instead the term nimble. Being nimble as a virtual facilitator could mean:

1. Having a back up plan just in case the platform you were going to use is switched last minute
2. Being comfortable with change (as it will inevitably happen)
3. Being flexible to adjust the game plan depending on the needs of the group
4. Knowing your materials and having a big picture overview so you know what can be adjusted. If there were 2-3 things for people to take away from the call what would they be?

What are some other things that we can do to be nimble?
One of the most important things I find with my work is to really know my material (or the roadmap of elements), know the platform as much as I can, and be present for what the group wants. The more we can encourage engagement and interactivity the more it becomes the group’s/team’s call, which usually is a good thing.

Make a list of half a dozen things you can do to enhance your “nimble factor”.

Have  a great start to your week,
Jennifer

Today's Effective Virtual Conversation Tip is about preparation pre-virtual calls or conversations. "Winging it" is not advisable with the many "bells and whistles" you need to manage in the virtual space - from slides, to breakouts, to ensuring everyone can get on the line, to recording, you'll want to prepare and possibly practice, based on your skill and confidence level in facilitating webinars, teleclasses and other virtual events.

A few weeks ago, I hosted an Effective Virtual Conversation call (next one is today at 11 am ET) which was dedicated to "Preparing for Blast Off", the title of chapter 6  in my book, Effective Virtual Conversations. 

In any call there is logistical preparation, preparation of our selves and tactical preparation.

It's good practice to get in the habit of doing things consistently when you are leading virtual sessions, which might entail running through a series of checklists to make sure you have all the bases covered. Throughout Effective Virtual Conversations I provide you with multiple checklists, worksheets and templates, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Here's a list of 10 things you'll want to do each and every time  you are on tha call (modify for the platforms you are using) - Excerpt - Effective Virtual Conversations, page 219):

1. Have a list of your participants’ names (and contact details – phone and/or email).
2. Send out a reminder email about the call.
3. Know your material inside and out.
4. Have a back-up bridge line or system.
5. Make sure the recording is on.
6. Make sure you are on the line a few minutes early to troubleshoot with participants.
7. Make sure you start and end on time.
8. Review what you just did.
9. Ask group members to consider and/or share the main points of their learning and the takeaway/end result from the session.
10. Send out a follow-up email.
    

I hope that you'll take 5 -10 minutes today to note what you want to, or need to, have in place prior to your next session.

Enjoy!
Jennifer

Creating a Team Charter
Copyright 2017 - Jennifer Britton

For decades we have known the power of a team charter or a team  having a set of shared agreements about what is acceptable, or unacceptable on the team. These are behavioral agreements around “how things are done around here”. Having an explicitly created set of team agreements can serve to avoid some of the more negative, and toxic behaviors which can emerge.

Increasingly research is pointing to the importance of team agreements  - take a look at Charles Duhigg’s article on Google’s high performing team experience, or refer to what Amy Edmonston refers to as psychological safety.

Time Required: 15 – 60 minutes

Materials needed – White board, breakouts and/or annotation

Who For? Newly forming teams, teams which are wanting to be even more exceptional, project teams, teams that are struggling

Instructions:
Teams which excel have a set of shared agreements around how they want to operate as a team. This is also seen as “What is acceptable and what is not acceptable in our team”. “It’s how we do things around here”. It’s “our values in action”

Get team members to first consider the question : What are the behaviors and agreements you want to have in place so that you can do your best work?”

Creating a team charter can be done in several ways –

As a large group where everyone suggests one item at a time, which is captured on a white board and then agreed upon OR

First team members meet in smaller breakouts to discuss what they see as agreements, which they then bring back and share with the larger team as individuals or breakout groups

Depending on the number of agreements generated, you may wan t to capture them first and then vote on which are the top ones for the team OR to create the most amount of buy-in, have team members share their proposed agreements and then individually agree upon them, and what they mean for everyday behaviors.

What is important in this dialogue is the discussion and agreement across the team. It is also important for the team to have discussion around what does each agreement look like “in action” or behaviorally. For example, if we agree to “start work on time” what does that look like? Does that mean you are in the office? Does it mean you are in the lunch room, in the office starting the day, or does it mean that you are on your computer ready to work when the work day starts.
With teams it is important to get “granular” and very detailed around what is, and what is not, acceptable on the team.
 

While assumptions are dangerous for most teams, they can be the "kiss of death" for virtual teams. Without the ability to see each other every day, structured communication touchpoints take on a new meaning. At the same token, there are a variety of layers of assumptions that can be made across a virtual team. Consider these different types of assumptions we may be making:
Assumptions about priorities - that my work is at a certain level of priority. How clear is the entire team about priorities.

Assumptions about how we like to work - when we can't see each other regularly we may start thinking that everyone likes to work the way we do. Consider your own style in terms of questions like:

• Are you a big picture person or details oriented.
  
• Do you like to get things done now, or think about things before getting them done.
• How does my work style vary with my colleagues?
  
• What adjustments do I need to make in order to work more effectively with others?
  

Cultural Assumptions - Throughout my entire career I have managed muti-national teams. Even for neighbouring countries like Canada and the  US (note the Canadian spelling of neighboring), a lack of understanding of the cultural nuances can mean success and failure. What are the cultural assumptions and biases you are bringing to the table? What assumptions are you making about other team members from other countries.  As much as we are influenced by our own culture, we also need to keep in mind that for many working on virtual teams, we may have worked in a number of different countries which has also influenced our own cultural norms. For example, don't think that because I am Canadian I'll always act a certain way, especially given that throughout the years I have worked for British companies, the UN and other global entities.

Generational Assumptions - There is much talk today about the different generational styles of the workforce - Boomers, GenXers, Millenials and Gen Z - and how we prefer to work and what we value. Where are assumptions getting in the way of looking at each individual as an individual.

For your own work, consider how assumptions are tempering your approach to virtual leadership and/or virtual facilitation. I go more in-depth to this topic in my new book, Effective Virtual Conversations.

Have a great start to your week,
Jennifer